Barbara Kingsolver's 'Partita' is a symphony of parts being made whole
Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri MillerShow Notes
Barbara Kingsolver is a lauded writer. But the art doesn’t stop there. She’s also a pianist.
Like Livia, the main character in her new novel, “Partia,” Kingsolver also left her humble roots in Appalachia to go to college on a piano scholarship. In part, it’s what inspired her to write this book.
“Very few people have written about music from the inside,” she tells host Kerri Miller on Big Books and Bold Ideas. “I’ve never read a novel about a pianist from a pianist point of view. I loved the challenge of translating one art form into another.”
Click here
Kingsolver composed “Partita” like a musical partita — a series of parts that makes a whole. Livia is enthralled with her music during her early days at college and has big dreams. But then she falls madly in love for the first time, and her path is forever changed.
“Partita” is a reflection on the “what ifs” of life, but even more, it’s a story about redemption, love and the power of music.
Guest:
Barbara Kingsolver the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including “Demon Copperhead,” “Unsheltered” and “The Poisonwood Bible.” Her new novel is “Partita.”
Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Subscribe to The Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.
More from Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller
Min Jin Lee was disappointed she didn’t get to come to Talking Volumes in 2017 to talk about her novel “Pachinko.” She says that’s probably because it struggled initially. Her editor quit just three months before the book was published. Her husband lost his job the day “Pachinko” was released. And besides The New York Times and USA Today, no media companies would review her book.
To mark the fall member drive, Kerri Miller dips back into three conversations she’s had this year with authors who write about nature — and thus, wrestle with what they see climate change doing to our planet. How do we live richly in the midst of a great unraveling?
Miss Marple rides again in Lucy Foley’s new novel, “Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel.” This time, the beloved spinster sleuth finds herself on holiday, at a glamorous and isolated hotel nestled high in the Swiss Alps — where a body is quickly discovered on the first gondola ride of the day.
Carol Anderson has been sounding the alarm for years.
Have Americans given up a sense of virtue in their political leaders? What does character mean when so-called “authenticity” is prized over moral goodness?